Fred said:
if you replace important components or re-install XP, you will have to
register the software again.
this can be avoided by saving several specific files.
but which files are they ?
It is not really true. If you change too many categories of hardware
the system will wake up thinking 'This ain't Kansas any more' and will
only boot to Safe Mode until you phone in to activate again.
If you do a format and reinstall, that is a new 'instance' of the
system, which you will have to activate again within the usual 30 days.
This no longer matches the start date etc in those files, and they are
not useful. Provided you have not gone OTT on hardware changes, or if
it is more than 120 days since last time, this will go through again on
the net. If you do a 'repair' reinstall the files should still be
around and the activation status will be as before.
The only time the files concerned are useful is if you make too many
changes, and then unwind one or more, to bring you back to
'substantially the same' hardware as originally. In that case copying
them back from a backup is worth while. I would also have the backup in
case they get damaged - they are a tempting target for a virus. The
files are in Windows\system32 - wpa.dbl and wpa.bak and they fit on a
floppy
See
www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm